The Hatchet means we're home
by Crescent Luna Moon
Summary: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.
1. Chapter 1

**The Hatchet means we're home**

**Summary**: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.

**Pairings**: Lambos/Ratchet , Prowl/Jazz, Blue/Wheeljack, Hound/Tracks, Cliffjumpper/Mirage

**Warnings**: Eventual slash, bonding, pranking, flying medic equipment, Decepticons doing their thing, Medical repairments, Wheeljack exploding, OC's, violence, character deaths Etc.

**Time**:  
><strong>Astrosecond <strong>- one earth second  
><strong>Orn <strong>- 13 earth days or a Cybertronian lunar day  
><strong>Breem <strong>- 8.3 earth minutes  
><strong>Cycle <strong>- 1.25 earth hours

"Speech"  
>::Bond link::<br>-:Com link:-  
><em><strong>Thinking<strong>_

**Ch 1: **Transfer

"I must remind you that due to your last insubordination, that this _is _your **last **chance to be part of this faction otherwise you're being transferred, **again**" a black and silver femmebot said irritably towards the two bots dubbed the "terror twins", aka Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

"Awe come on Dreamcaster don't be so hard on us" the red twin, Sideswipe, whined to the femmebot - who got a tic above her optic by the nickname she was dubbed by them. She gave him a look, knowing that the gold twin wouldn't care one way or another about the situation.

"First off I _**have **_to be hard on you as you listen to me above anyone else for some _strange _reason that no one can figure out. Second, I have to warn you as your guardian as well as your superior and lastly **DON'T CALL ME DREAMCASTER**!" she shouted the last part to the grinning red twin. She panted then sighed in frustration to the twins before shuttering her optics for a second.

"Look, I hate having to repeat myself to you, you know that, but Lightwhielder is serious this time. He's had enough of your 'antics'" here she did quotations with her silver fingers, "and is already setting up candidates to send you to if you step out of place one more time. I don't mind your pranks as its a refresher and keeps us on guard encase of a 'con attack, but _please _let the pranks drop a scale until I can get Lightwhielder calm down, I don't want to lose my two favorite pranksters to the headbot's anger" she said tentatively. The twins looked at each other before going forward and placing a servo on each of her shoulder plates, knowing that this was tough for her to do.

"We can't make any promises that our pranks won't make Lightwhielder mad, he's always had a shockrod shoved up his aft since _**before **_we even arrive here with you, and he's always been sort of egotistic and can't seem to take a joke. If we get transferred then we get transferred, but we'll keep in touch with _our _favourite femmebot in all of Cybertron, Darkcaster!" Sideswipe said cheerfully. Darkcaster snorted at the last comment towards her, knowing that they were trying to cheer her up.

"Right I'm your favourite and that seeker, Skywarp, is just a simple glitch at spark" she said, her voice had a hint of humour in it an a smile appeared on her faceplates. The twins smirked a little, though Sunstreaker's was smaller and barely noticeable, at the fact they got Darkcaster to smile and cheer her up. Sideswipe weren't joking that she was their favourite, in fact he was down right serious with the comment. He and Sunstreaker had know Darkcaster all their lifecycle and she was a part of their existence, the one that showed that they were thought about and cared for them, that actually thought they were worth something and for that she was their favourite femme.

"Alright you two, to your room for the rest of the day, I'll come around with energon later when my shift's done" Darkcaster said happily and shooed them off before going to her post in the command center.

**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**

Darkcaster stared in shock at Lightwhielder's decision when he had called her to his office to speak to her.

"**What**? I though you said you'd give them another chance?" she shouted at her CO, "This isn't fair to them and you know it!" she continued shouting before a swift smack against her faceplate made her stop. She held her throbbing faceplate and glared at the white and gold mech before her, not for hitting her, but for going against his word.

"I know what I said, but I will not have those glitches here for another astrosecond and **that's **_**final**_, understand Darkcaster?" he said lowly to the communications officer and TIC to his regime. She growled lowly in her throat and nodded, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop him, only rig the twins to a better regime than one that Lightwhielder would set up.

"Do I get to know where you might be sending them?" she said thickly, throat clogged with anger and bitterness for her CO. Lightwhielder gave her a glance over his shoulder as he had turned around so he didn't see the femme.

"I will leave the transportation and transfer to you Darkcaster" he said, sounding sympathetic as he knew what the twins meant to her and would grant her the pleasure of getting to transfer them. Darkcaster made small noise before leaving, knowing that she was dismissed from his office.

She gave a soft whimper in emotion pain, unsure of how to tell the twins that Lightwhielder wouldn't give them another chance. She was about to go to the twins when she remembered her cheek, it was slightly crushed from Lightwhielder's hit and went to the medbay instead, knowing that if the twins found out that Lightwhielder had struck her, he'd be offline with no connection leading back to them or her and then they'd have to run before suspicion got to them.

Once she had checked in with the medic , had her faceplates fixed and made the medic swear to not tell the others of Lightwhielder's abusive action towards her, Darkcaster arrived at the twin's quarters with the promised energon in her servos. She pinged the twins and went in when the for slid open, stopping in front of the door so it would close before she went over to a table to place the energon down. She didn't hear the twins call her name nor the tone that they held in concern when she didn't answer them and the look on her faceplates was blank with her being in thought.

Two servos on her shoulder plates made her snap out of her thoughts and look at the twins, who were frowning at her with concern written in their optics. She shivered at the looks from them, it's like they were looking into her own spark and finding her secrets that she held tightly. She smiled at them, forcefully, and shut off her optics so they wouldn't the dark in the back of them as she thought about Lightwhielder's command.

"Dreamcaster what's wrong?" Sideswipe's voice entered her audio receptors, worry etched within it. She flinched slightly at the tone and the fact that he used her nickname outside of teasing and getting out of trouble.

"Nothing 'Sides, nothing" she said and groaned mentally at the excuse and how full it sounded, how forced and fake, knowing that they'd see under it right when she said it.

"Liar" Sunstreaker's voice rang out dangerously. She onlined her optics and shivered when the gold twin pulled her close and held her.

"What. Is. Wrong?" he all, but growled out to her, staring into her optics intensely, breaking her defences of trying to keep Lightwhielder's command to herself for a bit longer.

"...Lightwhielder has...he has commanded that you two are to be transferred immediately" she said softly before dropping to her knees when Sunstreaker let go in order to rave at the unfairness that the CO had shown towards them. Sideswipe helped Darkcaster up and sat her on one of the chairs, angered at Lightwhielder, but more concerned with Darkcaster as she was out of the living world when she told them, it felt like she betrayed them in her opinion as she said that they'd get one last chance and they didn't.

"I'm sorry" she said softly, her optics dimming and cast downward to the floor.

"Don't you **dare **blame yourself for the command" Sunstreaker said, having heard her small apology, "you didn't give the command and I'm sure you tried to get him to change his mind" the yellow twin said as he went over to her and lifted Darkcaster's face to look at him, she looked pitiful as she took things to spark even if it wasn't her fault.

"Listen to me, you. are. _**not**_. to. blame" Sideswipe said to her from his position near the far side of the table, haven gotten shoved out of the way by Sunstreaker, "_Lightwhielder _is and he's gonna be the blame for as long as he is online and then afterward" he told her and then made her promise to not blame herself.

"I promise" she said meekly before Sunstreaker let go of her face in order to hug her, he didn't show this side of him to anyone but Sideswipe and Darkcaster an with good reason, anyone else would use this against him, use him against the two he cared for, and he never really learned to trust anyone else.

"Did he tell you where we were being sent to?" Sideswipe asked.

"He left the choice to me" she said soon after.

"Do you have an idea of where you are going to send us?" Sunstreaker asked, knowing that Darkcaster would send them someplace better suited for them than the Cybertronian moon shuttle base. He saw her nod her head very lightly.

"I have a place picked out, they're already short on hand and were asking for transferees so you're going there" she said.

"And _there _is _where _specifically?" Both of the twins asked in confusion. Darkcaster smirked slightly at them, her optics gave an illusion of a heavy lidded look.

"The ARK, under the command of Optimus Prime" she said before the twins started grumbling and packing their things, knowing that they would be heading their on the next shipment out tomorrow.

**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**

::Hey Sunny?:: Sideswipe called his twin through their bond. The gold twin glared at his red counterpart.

::Don't call me that and what?:: he growled.

Ignoring the growl, Sideswipe replied, ::What do you think the ARK is like?::

::Why would I know? I never got a debriefing chip about it, I only know that it's the furthest base out in space and is ran by Prime:: he said while leaning against the wall of the transporter shuttle.

They had been on the shuttle for the past orn and were closing in on their new "_**home**_" as they jokingly started calling it to cheer Darkcaster up when they left. They kept in contact with her every solar cycle after she got off her shift and just talked for a few breems up to a cycle or more until it was late on her side and she had to recharge. Yesterday had been one of her days off the roster an they had talked for a few cycles longer and since they left, it had been the longest time they had talked to her. Now they were less than a breem away from the ARK and boy did they get an eyefull of the place.

::That thing is **MASSIVE**!:: Sideswipe commented when they had first caught sight of the station. Sunstreaker couldn't help but agree with his elder twin, the place was massive for just a group of Autobots to live on. They wondered how many 'bots lived on the ARK if they were shorthanded. Well they were going to find out as they felt the shuttle stop at the cargo bay of the ARK and the doors opened to let the light in.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Hatchet means we're home**

**Summary**: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.

**Pairings**: Lambos/Ratchet , Prowl/Jazz, Bluestreak/Wheeljack, Hound/Tracks, Cliffjumpper/Mirage

**Warnings**: Eventual slash, bonding, pranking, flying medic equipment, Decepticons doing their thing, Medical repairments, Wheeljack exploding, OC's, violence, character deaths Etc.

**Time**:  
><strong>Astrosecond <strong>- one earth second  
><strong>Orn <strong>- 13 earth days or a Cybertronian lunar day  
><strong>Breem <strong>- 8.3 earth minutes  
><strong>Cycle <strong>- 1.25 earth hours  
><strong>Joor <strong>- 6.5 earth hours  
><strong>Solarcycle <strong>- One earth day

"Speech"  
><strong>::Bond link::<strong>  
><em>-:Com link:-<em>  
><em><strong>Thinking<strong>_

**Ch 2:** Physical Exam

_-:Transport to ARK, Transport to ARK:- _a buzzed message entered the communications deck of the ARK. A single mech on duty at the time answered the com.

_-:ARK to Transport, what's your position?:-_ The mech asked while pinging Optimus to let him know the shipment and transferees had arrive.

_-:Cargo bay, Transferees already on deck, waiting:-_ the mech upon the shuttle reported. The doors to the communications deck opened and Optimus entered in all his red and blue glory.

"Where are they stationed at the moment Prowl?" Optimus asked the mech.

"Already on deck in the cargo bay" Prowl replied before dismissing the mech on the shuttle. He followed Optimus out of the communications deck and down past a few other mechs on shift.

"You think it was a good idea to take them?" Prowl asked with concern, "I've heard that these two are particularly menaces to whatever regime they're assigned too" he continued.

"Prowl lets give them a chance they cannot be as bad as they are said to be" the Prime said as to give the transferees the benefit of the doubt. Prowl looked at his CO and sighed, shanking his head in disbelief. He hadn't just heard what the two were capable of, he had seen the damage. It was plastered to their files and written in red to show that they were hazardous to everyone, but themselves.

"Prowl, give them a chance" he heard Optimus repeat before they entered the cargo bay.

"Frag" was all he said when he saw the red and gold duo, knowing that he had been right. They were currently standing next to a lime shuttle wall with fluorescent yellow stripes going in a horizontal direction. Aparently they got bored with waiting and decided to paint the usually grey shuttle with some of the paint from the cargo bay.

_**Not even a breem in and they're already messing with things**_ Prowl thought as he covered his faceplates with a servo. He heard Optimus snort in amusement and silently groan as he _knew _that if this got Optimus amused, then Jazz was gonna bust a gasket and help join in.

"Ah, sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Optimus Prime" Optimus introduced himself, "This is Prowl my second-in-command" he introduced the silent SIC next to him, who was still slightly dreading the moment they met Jazz.

"Pleasure, I'm Sunstreaker" the gold twin said with a bored drawl, though not a rude drawl as he promised Darkcaster that he wouldn't be upon the first meeting.

"Sideswipes the name" the red twin gave his name with a little more enthusiasm than his brother, who he was mentally prodding through their bond and earning a glare from the gold mech.

"Wonderful to meet you, now I know you want to get out of the cargo bay and into your quarters, but before you do that I need you to report to the med bay" Optimus said to them, not expecting twin looks of distrust right away.

"Why?" Sunstreaker asked, not wanting anywhere near a med bay for personal reasons.

"For a simple Physical exam, our Chief Medical Officer likes to keep himself updated with new soldiers" Prime explained vaguely, not liking that he had gotten those looks from the two frontliners. He hadn't had time to fully read their files, but he could tell that these two had trust issues and would need some prodding. Maybe he'd warn Ratchet that they would be needing a push in direction...then again if they didn't show up the CMO would go after them anyway.

_**Why waste the energy making Ratchet madder than he already is with Wheeljack's newest visit by telling him that the transferees might not show willingly?**_ Optimus thought before coming back to the present.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be able to find the med bay, it's down the hall" he added off handedly, "So I'll leave you two to get there yourselves" he said, knowing that they didn't need to hear a speech when they first arrived. He found that if he used speeches for simple punishment, the others would freak and he loved seeing their faces when they realized what he was about to do. With that he dismissed the twins and turned to head towards the door, grabbing Prowl as he did so.

Sunstreaker looked at Sideswipe and saw his brother nod in agreement to the silent notion. There was no chance in Pit that they were going to the med bay, to have a strange medic criticize them with one glance then do a simple once over and dismiss them, hoping to never see them again. All the other medics were like that, if it weren't for Darkcaster being in their last regime and always with them in the med bay when they were injured, they'd never get fixed or be purposefully damaged so they wouldn't function properly.

No they weren't going to the med bay, instead they headed towards the designated quarters, haven been told before they were dropped off where they were staying, not knowing that they were making a storm brew in the direction they were _suppose _to have been going.

**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**

_**Where the frag are they? **_The white and red medic thought to himself as he finished with fixing an extra arm so he have it when it was needed. He had been waiting a few breems for the transferees since Optimus had pinged him that they had arrived and he was sending them his way, but that was a while ago and still no one had come in after Wheeljack had came with a separated arm and cracked optic.

"Uh, hi Ratchet" had been the start and Ratchet had glared at the inventor as he hung in the hall in front of his med bay.

"What did you do?" he growled, knowing he did something and was proven right when Wheeljack flinched at the growl before walking with his separated limb. Oh he had been **pissed **as he had _just __**fixed **_his arm not a joor ago! Now he had came back with the same problem when Ratchet had signed him off roster for the day!

After he had fixed Wheeljack, and knocked a good sized dent in his helm with his favourite wrench, he dismissed him and then waited for the transferees. And waiting he had been for nearly a cycle while getting angrier. Did those two not know how to follow orders or were they simply wanting to get hurt? Ratchet didn't know, but he knew which one he was gonna fulfil as he grabbed his wrench and marched out of his med bay, past a cowering Bumblebee and frightened Jazz.

"Man, the transferees are in for it" he heard the saboteur.

"Frag right they are!" he called over his shoulder, letting the two know he was pissed. He heard their peds echo down the hall away from him as he passed the rec. room and down to the barracks.

The hall was empty and silent, dead of life. Then the angry sounds of peds hitting the floor came into anybot's audio receptors, those he were willing to listen that is, as Ratchet came up to the twin's designated quarters. He didn't even bother with knocking, he used his override code and stormed in.

"The Pit?" Sideswipe, he remembered from the medical file, shouted when Ratchet entered, angered that their quarters had been broken into by a rouge mech. He pinged Sunstreaker, who was in the berth room napping, and stood up to face the medic, he was suicidal and he'd oblige with the mech's suicidal tendencies.

"The frag do you think you are?" he growled out to the white and red mech, not seeing the dark gleam in Ratchet's eyes. The next thing Sideswipe saw was a flying, metal object heading towards his face and connecting. He dropped with a pained cry and held his face, upon which he had been hit and felt something tap something on the side of his neck, shutting him off for the time being.

Ratchet picked up his wrench and sighed. _**One down, one to go **_he thought as the berth doors opened, revealing an angered and groggy Sunstreaker. He took one look at Ratchet and his downed brother before snapping forward, not thinking about anything but kicking this mech's aft to Cyberton and back then handing it to him personally.

The red and white mech dodged his first hit and grunted a little when his other fist connected to his side, but he realised to late that this had been the mech's objective as he grabbed Sunstreaker's servo and smacked him upside the helm with his wrench a few times before he dropped to the ground, vision blurred and helm throbbing.

"Name's Ratchet, remember it" was the last thing he heard before the mech's servo hit something on his neck and he went down like his brother. Ratchet sighed and turned off the pain receptors in his side, knowing that the gold mech had broke _**something **_in his side and he knew that he could of taken the mech down without hurting himself, but it would of taken longer and he wanted to let the frontliner know that he could take a beating despite being a medic.

_**Alright, med bay**_ Ratchet thought as he grabbed the twin's arms and started to drag them out of their quarters, data bursting the door close. Along the way he had met back up with Jazz and Bumblebee, who figured that Ratchet might need back up with carrying the twins as they knew better than to say the CMO couldn't fight.

"Frag Ratch, what did ya do to them?" Jazz asked as he drug the gold twin behind him, 'Bee was helping with the red one.

"They were told to report to me, they didn't and I took it into my servos" he told the saboteur. 'Bee kept quiet as he continued to follow the medic, knowing that Ratchet was still angry with the twins not showing up.

"Put them on the berths, I'll take it from here. First Aid!" he called out when they entered his med bay. The medical protégé came out of his small office near Ratchet's own and blinked at the sight of the two unconscious mechs upon two berths.

"Um...Ratchet?" he asked tentatively. He knew that his boss had been waiting and hid after he left to find the twins, now he just wanted to know what he was needed for so he didn't make Ratchet madder than he already was, he really didn't want a wrench to the helm.

"First Aid, get the Spark scanner going and have a hammer out so I can get rid of the dents" he said while starting his general scan of the protoform and energy levels. He looked over Sunstreaker first and found that he was a little low on energon and ordered First Aid to run to the rec. room after he was done and grab some energon for the twins and for First Aid himself, knowing he hadn't had any today.

After a bit, Ratchet had his Spark scanner in his hands while First Aid left for the rec. room. Jazz and 'Bee were still in the med bay, staying quiet in the little corner they occupied since placing the twins on the berths. Ratchet hovered the scanner over Sunstreaker's chassis and waited for the large screen to finish its once over and give him the results as well as the spark photo.

A small ping noise let the CMO know the scanner was done and he quickly went over the results. He sighed lightly, knowing he'd be seeing these two more often as he saw that their spark was split. He knew, from his intern days, that twins could happen from one of two ways; one being two sparks being made at sparkage, which was more common of the two, or there was one spark at sparkage that split during the final stage of carrying.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were the later, which made Ratchet's job a Pit of a lot harder as split sparked twins needed different handling since they were literally connected by spark, meaning that they lived off each other as they were once one. They could feel the others emotions and pain if something happened to their other half and if one offlined...the other would follow right after. He groaned and cursed softly as he finished Sunstreaker and went to Sideswipe, not bothering with the Spark scan this time as he would get the same result as Sunstreaker.

Ratchet quickly finished with Sideswipe, having found that he was in a semi-better condition than his brother as he seemed to be more outgoing and took care of himself more when pressured into it, if the initial meeting was anything to go by. The CMO the went onto fixing the dents he gave the two before the onlined them.

"The frag?" came from Sideswipe once his optics flickered on and he looked at the pale blue ceiling of Ratchet's med bay. He looked around and saw Ratchet standing not far away with a data pad in his servos, scribbling away some notes. The red twin felt Sunstreaker come online and turned to his younger brother.

**::Sunny?::** he chirped softly down their bond.

**::Told ya not to call me that:: **he heard the familiar grumble from his brother and mentally smiled.

**::Where the Pit are we?::** the gold twin asked and saw Ratchet after a moment,** ::Never mind:: **he replied and sat up slowly, noting that his helm wasn't throbbing in pain as it had been when the wrench hit him.

"Next time you're ordered to come to the med bay, do it and save me the trouble of hunting you down" they heard the medic say after a minute of inspecting themselves. Sunstreaker glared at the medic and said nothing, sulking at the fact he ha been taken down easily by the medic, while Sideswipe wanted answers from the medic.

"Who the frag are you?" he growled out, ignoring the startled snort from the corner to his right. Ratchet looked at Sideswipe and grinned at him before sitting his data pad down.

"Ratchet, Chief Medical Officer of the ARK" he said before adding a small side note, "and the worst nightmare of mechs who piss me off" he then grabbed his data pad again and left while ordering First Aid to give them the energon, he had to report to Optimus about his findings on the twins.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Hatchet means we're home**

**Summary**: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.

**Pairings**: Lambos/Ratchet , Prowl/Jazz, Bluestreak/Wheeljack, Hound/Tracks, Cliffjumpper/Mirage, Ironhide/Optimus

**Warnings**: Eventual slash, bonding, pranking, flying medic equipment, Decepticons doing their thing, Medical repairments, Wheeljack exploding, OC's, violence, character deaths Etc.

**Time**:  
><strong>Astrosecond <strong>- one earth second  
><strong>Orn <strong>- 13 earth days or a Cybertronian lunar day  
><strong>Breem <strong>- 8.3 earth minutes  
><strong>Cycle <strong>- 1.25 earth hours  
><strong>Joor <strong>- 6.5 earth hours  
><strong>Solarcycle <strong>- One earth day

"Speech"  
><strong>::Bond link::<strong>  
><em>-:Com link:-<em>  
><em><strong>Thinking<strong>_

**Ch 3: Ratchet's injury**

Sunstreaker grumbled darkly as he waited for First Aid to finish the check over, his own as he was still an intern and he wanted to familiarize himself with the new mechs. He hadn't liked being touched by the young intern nor touched by the CMO who attacked them, so his mood was darker than it had been when he arrived. Sideswipe was simply apathetic about being checked over, never giving any indication that he disliked it or how much he **loathed **being touched by others outside his tight-nit circle of Sunstreaker and Darkcaster. No he simply gave a dead panned look to the intern when he was asked to turn over onto his chest.

**::This sucks turbofox acid:: **Sideswipe cursed through the bond. Sunstreaker couldn't help but agree.

**::Once First Aid is done, we high tail it out of here and never return to this side of the ARK:: **the gold twin told his older, red brother.

**::Agreed:: **The red frontliner said and mentally sighed in relief when the intern stopped touching him.

"Alright, you both can go" First Aid told them before thinking about giving them some advice, "One bit of advice before you leave" he said, catching them at the edge of the berths.

"And that is?" Sideswipe asked, knowing his brother wouldn't as he was simply wanting out of the vicinity.

"Do what Ratchet says, it leads to a lot less wrench throwing and Hatchet moments" the intern said. The last comment got the twins interest slightly.

"Hatchet moments?" Sunstreaker repeated. First Aid nodded, glad that Jazz and Bumblebee left when Ratchet did as they would over exaggerate with Ratchets moods.

"Yes, Hatchet moments. It's what we on the ARK have named for when he starts yelling, cursing and generally causing mayhem when he's angry. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it can get bad when other mechs are injured by stupidity or careless accidents" he explained while packing up the equipment that wasn't being used anymore, "it's better to just go along with Ratchet's orders, easier on the helm and processor if you know what I mean" he said and heard the door close after that.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya" the intern said to the empty air, simply knowing that the two weren't going to take what he said to spark.

**::It's better to just go along with Ratchet's orders:: **Sideswipe mocked, **::who in their right processor would listen to that mech?:: **he asked, still bitter about being taken down easily.

**::An insane bot is who::** Sunstreaker replied with the same bitterness as his brother, **::Come on let's get back and contact Darkcaster, she's bound to be off shift now:: **he said a little lighter at the thought of their friend/guardian. Sideswipe chirped in a slight happiness towards the idea and both quickly made their way back to their quarters.

Though once the got there they decided to change their coding so it wouldn't be easy to hack again by the CMO.

**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**

Ratchet muttered darkly as he left Optimus' office. How could that mech withhold information from him? He _knew _that the twins wouldn't arrive and didn't see fit to relay him that information.

_**That mech**_...Ratchet muttered darkly to himself and made it back to his med bay to repair his side. Once he sat down, he slowly allowed the pain receptors back online. He mentally hissed as the pain flared in his side and made him cup it, adding pressure to make it stop.

_**Slag, Sunstreaker can pack a punch**_ Ratchet thought as he grabbed a scalpel and began cutting into his side. He thought that if anyone came in and saw this they would only see a morbid image of him self-mutilating his body when he wasn't. This led him to data bursting his office door lock, knowing fully that First Aid was still in the main sector of his med bay and _**would **_walk in to check on him at random.

He groaned slightly at the damage he saw. His armor had been cracked and dented, which he was surprised that it wasn't pointed out before, while underneath was slightly caved in from the impact of the fist. He breathed out in attempt to curve the pain and overly glad that he blocked Wheeljack's side of their bond so couldn't feel his pain. His brother would otherwise have been pounding on the door, demanding that he opened up and worry over him. It made him astounded that his older brother would worry that much about him than Wheeljack did about himself.

_**Slagger needs to think more about his own safety than he does with me **_Ratchet grumbled and started cutting out the part of his protoform that had the most damage sustained and then banged out the metal, knowing that his wiring and tubing hadn't been harmed other than a small tap. He felt some energon drip and bleed out of the self inflicted wound as he continued to fix his armor and protoform.

The medic sutured the wound when he had finished making the metal uncrumbled, adding some melted patching metal onto the seems so it wouldn't leave a visible scar on his form. He cried out slightly from the liquid hot metal touching his sensitive form, he was glad that he made the office soundproof so no one would hear him when he did this.

Primus forbid anyone found him doing this, he'd be locked up and examined by Smokescreen to see if he had snapped if anyone saw. He shook his helm and groaned as the last bit of patch metal hit the intended area, finishing his procedure - much to Ratchet's relief. He then grabbed and shead his outer armor, wondering why he had just slid it up instead of taking it off in the first place.

A hammer made its way into the CMO's servo and he started to undo the damage the gold frontliner dealt to him. All the while, Ratchet felt the cooling patch metal seeped into the wound farther, cutting off the flow of energon and attaching the pieces of the medic's protoform together. He shivered at the feeling, having done this as much as he did when he had been injured in battle to where others didn't need to be notified, he never got used to the feeling.

A deep puff of air exited his intakes as Ratchet continued to work, not because he had to fix the armor, but because Ratchet knew he should have told someone he had been hurt. He knew that several mechs had asked him to tell them when he was in trouble or needed something, but never did. Call it the self sacrificing part of his spark or his medic programming, but Ratchet just couldn't as he hated laying his troubles onto others when they had their own problems.

He wondered why mechs like Ironhide, Optimus, Jazz and Prowl offered him that sense of friendship, Wheeljack he could understand as they were brothers, but the others always stumped him. He wasn't the nicest or easiest mech to get along with and he was considered one of the most dangerous for his random wrench throwing when he went Hatchet on everyone. He was brutally honest about what he thought about things and people and didn't hide himself from others...well most of him he didn't hide, there _was _a secret or two he kept in the dark from everyone, Wheeljack included, but that was another story for another time.

Soon Ratchet's armor was repaired and he was painting on some of his hidden paint supply to fix the scratches. He wasn't vain, not at all, he just did touch ups and fixed whatever was out of place so other bots didn't ask why his paint was scratched and try to investigate. The only time he wasn't under the light on that topic was when he is on the battle field, no paint survived out there.

Ratchet smirked when he remembered Wheeljack coming into his med bay once with no paint on, he looked embarrassed especially with Bluestreak behind in the same condition. He hadn't asked as he knew, his brother's emotions had been off the wall joors before the incident then he blocked his bond off not long afterwards and one could only guess what happened. After they had been repainted and looked over for injuries, Jazz came in and smirked knowingly at the two before turning around shouting about who won the pool. Wheeljack and Blue had been mortified, but happy as they didn't need to hide their relationship to the ARK regime.

Ratchet was thrilled for his brother finally taking on a bond mate after he had been looking for so long. Ratchet was still looking, but mostly had given up at this point in his lifecycle as he doubt anyone would take him or even look his way, but he kept up some hope that one would take notice in him. It was every Cybertronian's life long goal to get bonded and find love, though few found it now since the war began. The lucky ones found them and the extremely lucky ones found them on the same regime and not on the battle field or in some other unfavorable situation.

A knock made Ratchet come out of his musings for the time being. His sensors picked Wheeljack on the other side and he checked his chronometer for the time as Wheeljack only came to his office door if he went past his shift time.

He had.

_**Slag **_"Hold on 'Jack!" the medic called out and slipped his armor on, dried and looking normal, before flinching at the tenderness of his side. He grimaced as he knew that his side would give him problems for the next few solarcycles until the repairs situated and the patching metal dissolved when his selfrepair finished. So for now, Ratchet would have to not strain his side more than he needed to.

**::Open up or I'm exploding the door off!:: **Wheeljack shouted through their bond.

"Do it and see what happens" Ratchet threatened as he opened the door for him. The inventor blinked and inwardly cringed at the tone his younger sibling used towards him.

"It's a cycle after your shift, what are you doing here still?" Wheeljack asked while his optics scanned the room for something out of place to tell him why his brother was late to leave. Sure his brother was a work-a-holic like Prowl and Optimus, but he was usually good at leaving when he was scheduled to.

"Got busy with paperwork" Ratchet lied easily to his brother, he _did _have paperwork, but it had been done a bit after he finished examining the twins. He stood up, careful of his side and letting his brother see that he was acting strange. He didn't see that there was energon on his side in a blind spot nor on his chair where he did the self surgery, but Wheeljack did.

"Ratch? What's that?" He asked as he saw the energon on his brother's side, seeming to come from under his armor. Ratchet gave him a confused look before the inventor reached out and gathered some energon on his fingers and held it up to show the CMO. Ratchet's optics widened slightly when he saw it as well as his brother's head fins going teal in color and backed up slightly from his elder brother before the inventor attacked.

Ratchet cursed, he should have done a scan to see if there was any left over, but he had been too deep in his thoughts to do so and now his brother was going to see his injury, he didn't liked being worried over nor questioned and he knew that his brother was going to do both. The CMO flipped and tumbled on the floor of his office with Wheeljack until his injured side hit the edge of his desk, siding a sharp pain up and made him cry out. This gave Wheeljack the advantage he needed and flipped their position to where Ratchet was on the ground and he was above him, lifting his brother's outer armor up.

"Primus Ratch! What the Pit happened?" he asked as he saw Ratchet's protoform had a sutured wound on his side, it was swollen from the heat of the patch metal and slightly glowed red from said heat. He twitched and his head fins turned a slight blue-green as he saw that it hurt his brother as Ratchet placed a servo on it and his face twitched, one optic slightly shuttered in pain as the other dimmed.

"Nothing" Ratchet said, his voice thick as his side throbbed.

"That's a load of slag and you know!" Wheeljack growled angrily, head fins glowing yellow, "What. Happened?" he breathed out, forcing his brother's block down so he could **feel **what his brother was and **willed **Ratchet to tell him. He made a chocked noise in his vocal box as he was hit with a throbbing pain that vibrated down the bond. His optics shuttered off before going on again and his head fins flickered in a green color for pain. He got off and lifted his younger brother up until he was laying against his chest plate, head against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around his brother's chest as he waited for Ratchet to tell him.

**::Please Ratch, let me in and tell me what caused you this pain::** he spoke down their bond tenderly as he did when they were young and Ratchet refused to tell him when something was wrong. He loved his brother, he truly did, and he wanted his brother safe and happy. So it killed him when his brother was in pain like he was now, they were twins after all and twins _always _cared for one another no matter how they acted. Though they weren't spark-split twins, Wheeljack could still feel his brother's pain when he forced open his brother's side of their bond and right now he felt his brother guilt for not telling him analog with his physical pain.

**::Please Ratch:: **he tried again, hopping he didn't have to call Optimus and force him to make Ratchet talk. The inventor heard a soft sigh through the bond as his brother gave in.

**::I let it happen. The transferees didn't come in for their physical and I had to track them down and drag them back. One went down easily while the other was a little trickier and while I could of taken him down without him hitting me, it would result in him getting injured more than a wrench to the helm and more time than I had. I let him get close and punch my side before I grabbed him and subdued him.:: **the medic told the inventor. Wheeljack tightened his hold on Ratchet and sighed mentally, only Ratchet would let a mech hurt him so he'd get them to his med bay.

**::Did you get First Aid to help with the repair?::** he asked, knowing that the this injury needed another to let there be little to no side effects afterwards such as a virus getting into the wound.

**::...::** Ratchet was silent and Wheeljack felt another wave of guilt through the bond. Not good.

**::Ratch...tell me you got First Aid to help you::** Wheeljack said warningly, his anger rising. Ratchet flinched at the tone, while Wheeljack was the more laid back of the two, he still had the same anger as Ratchet did when he went Hatchet and a angry Wheeljack was a scary Wheeljack.

**::I...sought it unfit to tell First Aid::** he said lowly as he tried to get out of his brother's iron grip, only succeeding in hurting his side again and ripping the patch metal open again, which made Ratchet whimper. Wheeljack's anger was still there, but upon hearing his brother's whimper he looked down and saw the flow of energon coming from Ratchet's injury.

_**Frag **_he said mentally and lifted his brother up until he was fully off the ground, peds and all. Ratchet squawked and tried to get out of Wheeljack's arms, but Wheeljack wasn't having any of it and moved over towards the door. He data bursted it open and called for First Aid, knowing the intern was still in the med bay while he carried Ratchet over to one of the berths.

"I'm not some weak femme 'Jack!" Ratchet said angrily, next to having his wound reopen was Wheeljack's protective side getting on his last nerve receptor and making him irritable from his pain.

"I know you're not, but you're acting like some spoiled sparkling!" Wheeljack told as he pulled out some of the medical harnesses and stripped down Ratchet's limbs so he wouldn't hurt himself anymore.

"**WHEELJACK**!" Ratchet shouted and jerked to tried and get out of the harness, but immediately felt it tighten around his limbs as he continued to struggle until he was imobile. He glared at his brother and cursed him in every language, dialect and word he knew under the Cybertronian sun through their bond until Wheeljack blocked him off.

"This is for your own good you dragging self sacrificing glitch!" Wheeljack shouted back as he made sure that Ratchet's armor hadn't covered his wound in the moving.

"I don't _need _your help with this nor do I _need _any other bot's help! I didn't before and I don't now!" Ratchet shouted as First Aid came in, a little scared at the shouting match going on.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Wheeljack asked, "This isn't the first time you've hidden an injury like this?" he snapped at Ratchet and saw a flicker of his optics as he looked away.

"It's not is it?" Wheeljack asked again, he commed Optimus silently to get him to excuse Ratchet for the next few solarcycles.

_-:What is it Wheeljack?:-_ the Prime asked. He wasn't sure why the inventor was calling late.

_-:I'm asking you to take Ratchet of the roster for the next few solarcycles:-_ he said to his CO. This got Optimus' attention, something was wrong with his friend, he knew as Wheeljack didn't sound angry over coms unless it dealt with Ratchet and he NEVER asked to take Ratchet off roster unless something was wrong.

_-:What's wrong 'Jack?:-_ he asked worried.

_-:Ratch is injured and saw unfit to tell anyone:-_ the inventor growled. Optimus was up and going out of his office when he heard that and made record time to get to the me bay. Once there he saw Wheeljack glaring at his twin who was harnessed to one of the berths.

_-:Explain. Now.:-_ the Prime ordered. Wheeljack told him the incident and how it came to here, not leaving out a single detail other than their use of the bond as it was private, an then went on to shout at Ratchet, who seemed to ignore his elder sibling.

"Wheeljack, enough let First Aid fix the wound while I clear Ratchet off the roster for the next few solarcycles" Optimus said, much to Ratchet's dismay. The whole thing had been a slag storm just waiting to erupt and now it had, all because of one injury and his refusal to tell anyone.

"It's not that bad" Ratchet tried to explain so he wouldn't be off roster as that meant he'd get behind in paperwork and be forced to stay in his quarters or the rec. room as per Optimus' orders to any injured mechs.

"Not that bad? Ratchet the wound is the size of my servo!" Wheeljack exclaimed.

_**This is why I don't tell other bots I'm injured, it causes mayhem like no other**_ he thought to himself.

"It's _**because **_you refuse to tell that we do this Ratch and why we cause mayhem when you're hurt" Wheeljack said, revealing that the bond was open once more and he had said it through the bond. Ratchet glared at Wheeljack accordingly before flinching slightly when the patch metal dripped onto his wound again, he still didn't like it.

"Sorry, I know it's unfavorable but it's the best for these wounds" First Aid said apologetically, Rarchet didn't snap at him for it.

"I know" he said defeatedly and shuttered his optics off, giving into the fact that he lost this round. By this time tomorrow, every bot on the ARK, including the ARK itself, would know he had been injured thanks to Jazz and the other gossip mongers on the ship. He just knew he'd get a few visits as he wasn't going to be leaving his quarters until his wound was healed, luckily he had his back up wrenches in his living quarters for when the others gave him a processor ache.

**Me**: It's different I know and I know that it's not what you might want to read, but it is a little indepth on our dear, sweet medic with a deadly aim. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and will continue to read and review for me, next one will have more Ratchet/Twin interaction.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Hatchet means we're home**

**Summary**: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.

**Pairings**:  
>LambosRatchet ,  
>ProwlJazz,  
>BluestreakWheeljack,  
>HoundTracks,  
>CliffjumpperMirage,  
>IronhideOptimus

**Warnings**: Eventual slash, bonding, pranking, flying medic equipment, Decepticons doing their thing, Medical repairments, Wheeljack exploding, OC's, violence, character deaths Etc.

**Time**:  
><strong>Astrosecond <strong>- one earth second  
><strong>Orn <strong>- 13 earth days or a Cybertronian lunar day  
><strong>Breem <strong>- 8.3 earth minutes  
><strong>Cycle <strong>- 1.25 earth hours  
><strong>Joor <strong>- 6.5 earth hours  
><strong>Solarcycle <strong>- One earth day

"Speech"_  
><em>**::Bond link::**_  
>-:Com link:-<em>  
><em><strong>Thinking<strong>_

**Ch 4:** Quiet moments

As Ratchet predicted, news of him being injured spread like a virus the next day. He hadn't even got a chance to leave him room to simply walk around as it seemed that every mech wanted to see how he was doing, well minus the twins as he hadn't seen them since the physical.

It was _maddening _to the medic as he couldn't **leave **his quarters at all! Sure he had a despencer placed in his room like every other mech, but really he wanted OUT. He growled each time he tried to go towards the door, a presence came near and stopped right at his door, mostly it was Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Ironhide, Prowl and Jazz that checked up on him. He cussed at them and chewed them out each time as he was irritated by their actions and his side was still sore, as it would be for at least an orn.

He had thrown at least seven wrenches and hit six of those targets, the one that missed hit a lamp that blocked the visiting Cliffjumpper, giving the minibot the chance to hightail it out of Ratchet's quarters without a hurting helm. This had been three solarcycles ago when he had been put out on medical rest by Optimus, which meant that he had ten more to go.

Ratchet was going to end up offlining several mechs by the time he was back on roster. This would be if they didn't stop checking up on him like a weak femme or a sparkling that needed constant supervision. He groaned as he sat on his berth, reading some datapads that dealt with some patients they had in the med bay, he had ordered First Aid to send them over so he could review them and keep up to date even though he was ordered the stay out of the med bay, he did have his ways of knowing what was going on in his med bay when he was not and this was one of them. He _was _the CMO for a reason despite what he was ordered to do by his CO.

_**Frag, Skyfire, Perceptor, Beechcomber and three others were hit and are on berth rest for now, how the Pit did they get hit by Wheeljack's explosion three corridors down? Oh, wait...this is **_**Wheeljack **_**we're was talking about he can make **_anything _**happen with his explosions.**_Ratchet dead panned mentally as he read over the report, not even thinking about looking at Wheeljack's injuries as he would become more angry with his suicidal brother. He sent a wave of irritation down his bond link with his brother to show that he was angry with him. He smirked evilly when he received a wave of uneasiness in return, showing him that his brother knew that Ratchet had been notified about the incident and wasn't happy.

**::Ah. I can explain::** Ratchet heard Wheeljack say after an astrosecond.

**::Do tell, brother dearest, do tell::** Ratchet said in a mockingly sweet voice. Wheeljack, Ratchet could tell, was shaking with a slight dread from the tone the medic had used.

**::Ah...well...the chemicals I used **_**may **_**have been a **_**little **_**more volatile than I expected and MAY not have mixed properly like they **_**should **_**have and created an explosion that went to the explanation of five hallways::** Wheeljack explained softly.

**::...'Jack::** Ratchet stated.

**::Yes Ratch?:: **the inventor asked carefully.

**::**_**Be **_**glad that I'm **_**not **_**on roster right now::** the CMO said darkly and broke off the bond after he heard a terrified whimper from Wheeljack. Honestly, couldn't Wheeljack NOT have an explosion that did so much damage?

_**No. Because that would be **_**logical**_**. **_Ratchet thought and sighed. He couldn't _**blame **_his brother for experimenting, Pit both were sparked from two scientists with their carrier being an inventor as well so it was in their coding to be curious about things, but there _**was **_a limit at the number of explosions to have **one **successful invention. Ratchet sighed and stood up, he sensed nobot anywhere and was going to advantage to the chance of leaving his quarters. He quickly slipped out and dashed down the hall, minding his side in the process, and continued down to walk around the ARK, not wanting to go to the one place that held _**everybot **_on the ARK at any given time right away. Ratchet sighed and continued down the corridor down to one of the viewing decks the ARK had and slid into the empty deck.

Ratchet didn't look around the empty room, instead he looked out to the vast space in front of him, the sparse emptiness that held everything in its grasp, yet still feel so empty at the same time. He looked at the distant clusters of color, all filled with suns, stars, planets, moons, life. Each equally independent as they were dependent upon each other in some way, shape or form and each calling out to be found and to be _**known **_that they were right there and not simply a dead planet like...like...

"Cybertron" Ratchet said sadly and softly before he sat on a small seat that jutted out of the glass upon which the medic was looking out of. He looked for a silver spec that was his home and sighed sadly when he found nothing, but a charred ball that used to be a vastly well lit and living planet of mechanics, full of beauty and varieties of Cybertronians that were once one and the same and now were divided and different. The CMO wondered where it went wrong, he knew Megatron like he did Optimus when they were younger and Ratchet was less bitter and angered by the differences the split species showed in this damned war.

Where had things changed? Both Optimus and Megatron had ruled side by side, but where did Megatron get his greed? It never showed up in the centuries before the start of the war and then the attack on Tyger Pax...that had sifted everything that they all knew. Ratchet looked away from the dead planet over to a cluster of blue and red, it swirled together to create a neutral amethyst that shined out almost like a beacon of hope.

_Hope_.

Something he hadn't felt in a _long _time, not since the war began and seemed to go away with the number of empty spark chassis that they came across. It pained Ratchet with each one they found and it killed him when they found old friends they had and were now part of the pool of sparks. He kept losing pieces of himself in this damned war and he blamed the war, not a spacific mech as it wasn't _just _one mech that started it. It only took one mech to pushed every balancing factor into play. He wanted to cry as the weight on his spark started to choke him and become unbearable, he didn't have anyone to comfort him and he didn't want to burden others with his insecurities, but at times like now...Ratchet desperately wished that he had a bond mate to take some of the pain the reassure him that things would be alright even if they weren't.

_**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**_

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker left the viewing deck they had stumbled upon, leaving the clearly upset medic to his own mind. They didn't understand how the medic who had kicked their afts their first day would be like this, hiding how he felt from others when he CLEARLY had others who cared for him. Both had gotten just a taste of how the other mechs on the ARK cared for the CMO the solarcycle _after _the physical. They had been ordered down to Prime's office and since it was _**Prime **_ordering them, they went down to the office willingly, but begrudgingly.

The whole way they had gotten glared at with such dark glares that one would think that they were on the battlefield with the whole Decepticon fleet staring at them. It was only when they got to Prime's office did they learn that they were glared at because of Sunstreaker's action towards the medic had the CMO injured enough to be put off roster for an orn. The twins didn't care, but they did wince sympathetically at the news of Ratchet being put on berth rest as both knew how hard the gold mech hit, even when half awake. Though they could tell that there was another factor to the ARK regime being equally mad at them yet they couldn't figure that part out yet.

Sideswipe blinked and figured that this was the other side to the factor, the medic hid his pain just like they did. Sunstreaker saw the same, but he saw more as he had heard the sorrow and buried pain the medic had when he had said _**'**__Cybertron__**'. **_Their home. It wasn't their concern though and couldn't be asked to care about the mech they only known for less than a half a orn and so they left, but felt a small nagging feeling for the medic they left behind, maybe they'd send a mech a clue that the medic was in need of assistance...maybe.

_**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**_

Ratchet blinked and cut off the rapid emotions when the door opened and Jazz walked in.

"Hey Ratch! So this is we're ya been hiding'" the saboteur said and walked over to where the medic was sitting and immediately knew something was wrong with his medic friend.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a soft yet concerned voice. Ratchet blinked at the question before deciding to answer.

"What do you mean?" he asked stupidly at the question.

"Come on Ratch I'm not stupid and neither are you. What's wrong?" he asked again, pushing a little now.

"Nothing's wrong Jazz" the medic said evenly, cursing that he almost forgot that the saboteur was empathic to others and read their emotions easily like a data pad.

"Charred slag" Jazz cursed him and gave him a look as if to challenge him to say another.

"There is nothing of your concern Jazz" Ratchet told him before stand up, but the saboteur was right behind him.

"Ratchet, tell me what's bothering you!" the music loving mech pleaded with the medic, knowing that he was stepping his boundary and would possibly end up with a wrench stuck in his helm

"Jazz I'm warning you" the medic said threateningly as Hatchet started to take over.

"Ratchet, please tell me! I'm just worried that you're keeping the emotions inside and it's not good! Please talk to me or someone who will listen!" Jazz said, now gaining other mechs attention as they passed the rec room, the medic wondered how they got there so fast.

"Jazz" Ratchet growled darkly.

"Ratchet I'm begging you, talk to me!" the saboteur tried once more before he found himself being met with the wall and a wrench imbedded in it right next to his helm and in front of his optics.

"I'm warning you Jazz. Do. **Not**. Overstep your boundaries with me, I _**mean **_it, I don't **need **your help so** back **_**off**_" he said lowly and darkly before ripping his wrench out of the wall and letting the saboteur fall to the ground in a blind fear of what might have happened. Jazz knew that Ratchet wasn't a very violent mech by nature, he could tell by how he acted towards everyone when there was a quiet moment in the war, but that side of the medic was burried deeply in his spark and he wouldn't let anyone close for fear that he'd lose them before he had a chance to show himself. Feeling his mate next to him with his hand on his shoulder, Jazz stood up and looked at the SIC, who had worry written on his faceplates, before both looked at the way the medic went.

Optimus stood not far from the others and wondered what in the pit had caused Ratchet the go off like that, _especially _towards Jazz! He would ping his CMO later to get him to talk for a bit, but he doubt he'd get anywhere with the medic and would mostly have him sent to the brig for his dangerous attitude and to keep the others safe as well as the medic safe from himself. He hoped to Primus that it wouldn't happen, but he feared that it would.

_**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**_

Ratchet shivered as Hatchet slipped away from his energon lines. Primus! How could he have done that? To _Jazz _of all mechs? He sighed in frustration before feeling some residual amounts of anger in his system that _**needed **_to be let out somehow _without _injuring another mech. He sighed again before turning and throwing a hard punch to the wall, denting it a good size before shaking at the last bit of the anger leaving.

"Hey! The wall is innocent ya know!" he heard a voice to his right and looked at the red mech who said it and his silent gold brother. Ratchet blinked at the stated comment before looking back at the wall and offlining his optics.

"Don't start with me" he said to the red mech and was about to turn around and leave when he heard Sunstreaker talk.

"There _are _better ways at getting rid of your anger ya know" Ratchet blinked his optics on and looking at the twins.

"I know" he said tiredly. He didn't know why he was talking to these two nor why they were talking to him, but the small chatter that wasn't really connected towards his behavior and emotions was welcomed.

"Then why don't you do that instead of punching the wall and injuring your servos? The others need them to keep their afts alive" Sideswipe commented innocent like yet with a bored undertone with it. Ratchet fully turned back to them.

"Why are you two here?" he asked them suddenly.

"Our quarters is right next to the dent you made" Sunstreaker said sarcastically.

"Not that, I mean _why _are you **here **with the ARK regime" the medic asked the twins, truly wondering why. The twins looked at each other and were undoubtedly using their bond.

"Beats us, ask our previous CO, he'll tell ya or better yet, ask _**any **_of our previous COs they'll all tell ya the same thing. We're terrors, we cause havoc, disobey orders, rudely do things towards others, are suicidal and are sociopaths, prank anyone when we're bored and generally don't care about anyone but ourselves. Take your pick" Sideswipe said, knowing that Sunstreaker wouldn't say more that the fact they were terrors.

"No, that is _**their **_reasons as to why you're here. I asked for _yours_" the medic went on. The twins looked back at each other again.

**::Did we have a choice in coming here?::** Sideswipe asked his younger brother.

**::None in the matter::** Sunstreaker replied.

"We're not sure, we didn't get a say in where we went or stayed, we were just booted from one place to the next" Sideswipe said and found the medic nodding to the statement.

"I see" he said before turning to leave again, having new thoughts to his mind.

"Oh, by the way. If you two walk in to the viewing deck when I'm by myself again, simply know that you _are _welcomed to join, the viewing deck holds more than one simple mech" the medic said and continued onward. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe shared the same thought to the statement and to the mech.

**::Strange::**

* * *

><p><strong>Me: <strong>Hi! I'm glad you keep reading this and hope you enjoy it, not to say you _have_ to enjoy it but I hope you did. Please if you feel like it, leave me a comment on what you like or disliked, I'm up to be criticized, but not bashed openly. I also hope you come back and read some more! Thank you!


	5. Chapter 5

**The Hatchet means we're home**

**Summary**: When the twins are transferred to the ARK, they believe it's going to be like every other place they've been sent to, but this one has a dangerous medic on board.

**Pairings**:  
>LambosRatchet ,  
>ProwlJazz,  
>BluestreakWheeljack,  
>HoundTracks,  
>CliffjumpperMirage,  
>IronhideOptimus

**Warnings**: Eventual slash, bonding, pranking, flying medic equipment, Decepticons doing their thing, Medical repairments, Wheeljack exploding, OC's, violence, character deaths Etc.

**Time**:  
><strong>Astrosecond <strong>- one earth second  
><strong>Orn <strong>- 13 earth days or a Cybertronian lunar day  
><strong>Breem <strong>- 8.3 earth minutes  
><strong>Cycle <strong>- 1.25 earth hours  
><strong>Joor <strong>- 6.5 earth hours  
><strong>Solarcycle <strong>- One earth day

"Speech"  
><strong>::Bond link::<strong>  
><em>-:Com link:-<em>  
><em><strong>Thinking<strong>_

_This chapter has a darker tone set in it with Ratchet and past trauma on his part._

**Ch 5:** Haunting

Ratchet sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time in the last breem. He was confined to his quarters as punishment by Optimus for being a unnecessary danger to the regime, though in layman terms it meant that Optimus was telling him to cool down for a few solarcycles. The medic had been confined two solarcycles ago so his healing period was still on check with having eight more solarcycles before he was allowed to even THINK of checking to see he could take back control of his medbay.

This made Ratchet irritated as well as did his side, which had luckily not opened when he had punched the wall in the barracks. What pissed Ratchet off more was that Optimus ordered him to have no contact with the other bots, that included the medical updates from First Aid which had Ratchet wonder how Optimus knew about that, and basically have him in a nicer setting of the brig and solitary confinement.

A groan came from the medic as he knocked his helm against the desk he had in the main room. He was bored, irritated and sore, not to mention lonely as Wheeljack wasn't contacting him per Optimus' orders, but **come**. _**on**_! It wasn't like Ratchet could even get _out _of his quarters with the change passcode that Optimus did **and **the deactivation of his medical override for the door. He _needed _something to **do **otherwise he would probably deactivate himself so he'd get rid of the mind numbing boredom and loneliness that made him edge closer to insanity.

Didn't Optimus realize that he basically damned Ratchet to suicidal thoughts and homicidal tendencies from being cut off from the others when he was suppose to be on the "cool down"? Apparently not as Optimus seemed to forget that the reason Ratchet was a work-a-holic was so he didn't leave himself to the darker side of his CPU when he had nothing to do. He guessed that he hid it well from his CO as Optimus didn't seem to understand how his mind worked not why he did certain things to keep himself occupied.

While, yes, he did want a little time to himself he didn't necessarily _**want **_to be alone. He grew tired of his loneliness and lack of contact as to his personality of being a sort of social butterfly due to his medical programming. He **thrived **from being around others, even if he went bonkers from their constant checking on him like before his confinement, and being locked up made him feel like he wasn't _worth _much due to it. Ratchet gave a sort of weak and sadden chuckle as his processor started slipping towards the darker side, he knew that Wheeljack couldn't feel his emotions and wouldn't talk to him as he never disobeyed a direct order from the Prime.

Thus we find Ratchet going into his thoughts of how it would be better if he hadn't been sparked or deactivated long ago. Thoughts of how the others would better off and how much safer they would be without the grumpy and dangerous medic around. He chuckled and shivered slightly as he thought about before when the war wasn't even remotely thought about, when he was younger and Cybertron was still alive and in its golden age. Back when he and Wheeljack were orphaned from a freak explosion at their creators labs, taking them and seven other lives along with it.

The medic choked as he remembered that it was his fault that it happened as he had been taken with them since he had a virus and needed constant vigilance for the virus was taking a whack at his firewalls while Wheeljack was at sparklingcare. Ratchet blamed himself for the loss of his and Wheeljack's creators as they had been checking him over when they were suppose to be watching the experiment they had been working on and had overly sensitive and near extreme volatile mixed chemicals in it as it was time sensitive. Grabbing his helm, Ratchet watched helplessly at the scene as he became lost in the memory of what seemed like the start of his personality changing experience.

His optics shuttered and coolant dripped from them as he practically felt the ceiling of the lab fall onto and crush his creators, the liquid from the experiment had sprayed them and began eating away at their armor and protoforms. Their screaming echoed through his audio receptors and he curled in on himself as the detailed image of chemicals slowly eating away wires and metal, energon dripping and soaking the littering debris. Ratchet had miraculously been fine as he was blocked by his creators forms and a desk that hid the portable berth he had been recharging on. The medic had watched them slowly die and nearly begged the whole time to make it stop, they had been the longest as the others offlined from the impact of the ceiling, and then the deafening silence after their sparks extinguished.

A keen came from Ratchet as he saw their lifeless optics staring at him as he waited for rescue to find him inside his processor. It had taken nearly four solarcycles for rescue to get to the section that the explosion had taken place as they had to detox the other side of the building and then it took another two for them to find Ratchet and get him to safety. During that time, Ratchet just kept staring at his offlined creators as they stared back. He didn't understand then what fully happened, but he knew from the bond he had with his creators that they were gone and weren't coming back. Strangely enough he didn't remember Wheeljack trying to link up with him and see if he was alright yet he _knew _that his brother had tried to connect with him as when he had been taken out of the building, he heard Wheeljack's pleading and screams down their bond for him to answer.

Ratchet choked on an intake, it was the most haunting thing he had witnessed in his lifecycle and it still had an effect on him. It was one of the reasons he attacked his brother so much with a wrench when an invention when wrong and exploded. He always thought the worst when he felt pain come from his brother's side of their bond, he always thought that he wouldn't be able to save him in time when he raced down the corridors to Wheeljack's side. Ratchet thanked Primus every time Wheeljack wasn't that hurt and was repairable from the mishap. He thanked everything that his brother was still online and functional as he didn't think he'd survive if Wheeljack offlined.

A sharp pain came from one of Ratchet's servo as the CMO flinched back to look at his servo. A large gash went from the the tip of his thumb over the palm and then up to the tip of his pinkie. He stared at it and wondered how that happened and looked around for a moment before he felt a drop of energon drip from his helm and he then notice the slight ache coming from his chevron. Brilliant! He sliced his servo with his own helm and now he was just sitting in the same position he had been when he was looking at his servo.

The CMO didn't do anything other than stare at his servo and let the soft whirling of his intakes fill the empty space with sound. He watched as energon slowly dripped down the side of his servo, creating a flawless trail of pink, then fall towards the floor, mixing together with other droplets to make a puddle. The action made Ratchet feel numb and unaffected of his previous thoughts, he didn't like this and yet it was comforting to not feel the ache in his spark from being alone. Ratchet breathed in deeply and shuttered his optics before he clenched his servo into a fist to feel the pain that came from the wound so he could come back from the numbness.

He wasn't suicidal. Not at all, he just had moments where he thought like that just like every other bot. He was too much of a coward to even try and offline himself and let it be done with. After a few moments, Ratchet onlined his optics and unclenched his now shaking servo to fix it. He took out a spare medic kit from his subspace and found some patch metal. It was difficult to heat the metal up, but Ratchet did it and hissed as it dripped into his wound slowly and start fixing the damaged network of metal and some wiring that could be fixed later if it gave him trouble. Sighing after it was done, Ratchet replaced the med kit in his subspace before standing up and heading to the berth room as he felt emotionally drained and his CPU was slightly pounding.

Laying down on the berth, Ratchet quickly cycled down to recharge, not wanting to stay awake any longer on this day, he was tired of remembering the past and sick of this confinement.

_**~0~~0~~0~~0~~0~**_

Something was wrong.

Wheeljack could feel this in his spark and he was on edge, much like he had been early this solarcycle. He couldn't feel his brother down their bond, signaling that Ratchet was hiding his emotions so Wheeljack wouldn't feel the medic's frustration and probably loneliness from being confined. The mad scientist was frustrated as well from not seeing his little brother in three solarcycles since he last checked on him before his rage fit in front of the rec room.

Wheeljack wasn't ashamed to say that when he felt his brother's rage he hid in his lab with Blue, not touching any of his experiments until he felt his Ratchet's rage dissipate from his form. It was during that time he got snippets of what was ticking his brother off and he was slightly shocked that it was Jazz that was pushing his limit with the temperamental, and slightly sadistic, medic. He watched through his brother's optics as he flipped and pinned Jazz to the wall next to the rec room and say his threat before leaving the general area so he wouldn't hurt a bot in his rage.

After it had left, Wheeljack felt safe enough to move from the corner he had placed himself and Blue in. He had been edgy for a few breem before completely relaxing, though that was Blue's tender touch that relaxed him enough to work and fail with the portable dispenser he had been trying to make. Luckily it wasn't one of his larger explosions and only made small bits of shrapnel hit his face mask, completely missing Blue in the process.

Back to now though, Wheeljack wasn't sure what made him edgy at this moment in time, but he got a vague clue that it dealt with his twin. The inventor couldn't remember much as to why this made him edgy other than his brother's feelings being blocked how he felt with being confined and...order to...not see any...bots. _**Frag **_was his initial thought as he dived out of his lab and down the hall. He ran down the hall, passing the slightly filled rec room in the process, until he came to his CO's office. He sent a request to enter and didn't hesitate when it opened.

"What is it that you need Wheeljack?" Optimus asked, Prowl sat at his desk in the nearby corner of the room and stopped what he was doing to observe the inventor.

"You need to relinquish the confinement of Ratchet" he said as he slightly panted through his intakes, he hadn't ran that fast in a while an it was showing.

"I cannot do that Wheeljack, Ratchet is a unnecessary dan-"

"Ratchet isn't supposed to be left alone" Wheeljack said and clicked his face mask off to show his seriousness. Optimus blinked and let a ridge above his optic lift up in question.

"And this is a concern because?" he asked, worried for the medic. He had hated ordering his CMO to confinement, but it had been the safest plan he had for everybot, Ratchet included.

"Because when Ratchet and I were just barely into our youngling stage, our creators were killed in an explosion in Polyhex. I'm sure you read about it when you researched on your own before becoming Prime, it was the biggest explosion in that region in nearly 17 vorns before that" he started and saw Optimus nod.

"Yes I remember it, nine were offlined and one survived, though I'm still not sure what you're getting at" he said in confusion. Prowl was also confused, he had remembered it as well from several other Praxians when he was younger as they retold it when another explosion had happened in Central city then later research on his own.

"Ratchet" the mad scientist started again, "he was that survivor" he said and watched as his CO and SIC's optics dilated.

"Why wasn't he mentioned in the report, I mean other than the survivor part, nothing was mentioned?" Prowl asked after a bit.

"That was because our guardian said not to as Ratchet was already traumatized from being in the wreckage for six solarcycles with no one but our offlined creators and the other seven offlined scientists in the rubble" Wheeljack said, not liking that he was bringing up a dark spot of his and Ratchet's history, but it was needed.

"Primus" Optimus said as he sat back in his chair fully, he never knew. He had heard about that tragic accident, but to know that Ratchet, _his _CMO, had been in it and was the lone survivor added a new head of light into the picture. Despite being told this though he still didn't understand why Ratchet not having any contact was a problem.

"I'm still confused as to why Ratchet's confinement is a problem 'Jack" he informed the inventor, all the while questions piled in his processor. He heard a sad sigh from the inventor and saw the frown on his faceplates.

"As I said, Ratchet was **alone **in the wreckage for six solarcycles before help could reach him, during that time he only had the company of our dead creators that stared at him lifelessly. When our guardian took him to a Psychologist it was said that he should not be left alone as he blamed himself for the accident-"

"Why would Ratchet blame himself for that? It wasn't his fault" Prowl said in confusion. He stared at the white and green mech and saw that his head fins whirled a deep blue.

"That's because he had been ill with a virus and was taken there with our creators to keep an eye on him. When the time of the explosion happened, they were checking on Ratchet instead of watching the experiment they were conducting. Ratchet blames himself for getting ill; he thought, and manipulated his thoughts of this subject long ago, that if he hadn't let the virus get to him then they would still be alive" he explained to the Praxian.

"Back to what I was saying now. The Psychologist had said that Ratchet wasn't to be left alone without SOMEONE there to talk with or be in the presence of as he had flash backs of the event. This kept going until we hit adulthood and slowly depleted to where it was just an awful memory we are plagued with, yet Ratchet still got flashes of it every now and again when he was on his own and not doing anything to keep his focused."

He turned to Optimus, "This is why he is a work-a-holic Optimus, he doesn't want to think about our past and the event because if he does he gets lost in it and has suicidal thoughts because of it. I know my brother, even if he tries to hide it from me. I know what he thinks as he often told me, when he was on medication, what he was thinking" he took an intake to calm himself as he felt Ratchet's side of the bond open again when he went into recharge.

He looked back to Optimus after a astrosecond, "Ratchet can't be left alone with nothing to do or without any contact, that's final. It's a danger to his health, mentally, emotionally and physically, and I'm afraid of what he'll do if he's left alone for much longer. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone through this memory again after doing what he could in his quarters to keep him occupied" he finished and waited for his leader to come around and answer.

"Why not come to me with this before I assigned him solitary confinement?" the Prime almost demanded. Wheeljack sighed and offlined his optics as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I haven't thought about this in a long time, since before the war when Ratchet was apprenticing to be a medic, as he was _always _around someone. It wasn't until today that I thought about it again as _something _had been nagging me and making me edgy as I worked" he said and mentally punched himself for not remembering sooner, it was one of the main reasons he had asked to be put on the regime when his brother was assigned to it.

"I see, come we're getting Ratchet, Prowl abolish the order of confinement" he ordered his SIC, who did so quickly without complaint, and followed the inventor down to the personnel barracks of the ARK. Once there, Optimus overrode the code and opened the door, mentally putting down a list of things he needed to do for Ratchet in the next few joors.

Wheeljack was the first to go in and look around for his twin. Not seeing him, he went to the berth room and found his brother's prone and recharging form on the metallic bed. He took few, long strides over to the berth and lifted his brother up to check him over. He found a wound on Ratchet's right servo and a bloodied, dented and slightly oddly angled chevron. He sighed and held his brother, pouring love and affection down their bond to show his baby brother that he was there. The inventor ignored his CO and SIC as he did this and they didn't care as they watched with passive expressions.

Optimus dimmed his optics as the sight of the medic, he looked to have been in a fitful recharge before they arrived and wasn't waking to his brother's actions to get him up. The Prime was blaming himself for his, he should have know that something would happen and yet he couldn't fully blame himself for lack of knowledge on the subject. He still blamed himself for putting Ratchet through this though and backed out to the main room to let the twins have their time together as Ratchet came out of recharge, he had some thinking to do.

* * *

><p><strong>Me:<strong> Ha~ Ratchet isn't getting much love from me right now and he's got some history, but don't worry! He'll get some better action in the next few chapters and an interaction with the twins :D. Anyway I hoped you liked this chapter and I'm glad you're still reading this story!


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